The Phenomenon of Estonia in the World of the Alexander Technique

The Phenomenon of Estonia in the World of the Alexander Technique

Thanks to Maret Mursa, Estonia’s only Alexander Technique (AT) teacher, Estonia has become the place where AT teachers from all over the world meet and work together free-of-charge. The birthday of F. M. Alexander, the founder of the Technique, has been celebrated in Tallinn for five years with complimentary lessons from the teachers gathered here

/ Section about the life of F. M. Alexander/

In Estonia the AT is taught at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since 2000, AT is a compulsory subject for undergraduate drama students and they study it for two years. If they wish they can have AT lessons until the end of their studies. Lecturer Maret Mursa says that it a quite a sumptuous number of lessons. ‘For example at the Royal Music Academy in London, which employs ten AT teachers, there are a maximum of twenty lessons. The Royal Academy of Drama and Art has hired four teachers.‘

Kärt Tomingas is working towards her Master’s in Drama at the Theatre School of the Academy and takes AT lessons as an optional subject. She is quick to point out the practical benefits: ‘I now know how to relax my lower jaw. I did not know before that it was a problem. I got the answer to the question why my jaw would be seized by an attack of cramp. The AT is aimed at the body and the mind working together. When I drive I now try to monitor my shoulders and I try to walk without using muscles because we use too much force.Undergraduate students hold Maret in very high regard. I can see that the second year students are very keen to study the AT. Maret is also important for them as a psychologist. It seems, indeed, that thanks to Maret Estonia ranks very high in the world of the AT. She gets invited to leading centres of the Technique. People in Estonia perhaps have not yet learned to appreciate her highly enough.’

For students of music at the Estonian Academy of Music the AT is an optional subject. Similarly to the ergonomics of instrument positioning the AT teaches what the most economical position is for the instrument and helps to change poor body position that causes tension and injuries.

‘This year my anatomy teacher Jouko Heiskanen supported the birthday event. He is one of the best-known spine specialists in Finland and was awarded the title of the Best Teacher in 2005. Finnish physicians are the first in the world to start a project to train physiotherapists to specialize in helping musicians. The cause of this are statistics that show that every year more and more musicians undergo surgery because of joint problems. The ergonomics of instrument positioning is a compulsory subject at the Sibelius Academy / of Music – translator’s notice/. Prevention is easier than retraining later. Jouko Heiskanen is one of the authors of the project for training physiotherapists. We have excellent co-operation with him although he is not an AT teacher but a physician. On 20 January he held a workshop for AT teachers, telling about spine problems.

He found the time and paid for the trip himself. While AT teachers were giving lessons, he consulted music students who had problems,’ says Mursa.

The idea of celebrating F. M. Alexander’s birthday in this unique manner came from Maret five years ago when she was in Finland, and by today it has become a phenomenon of its own in the world of the AT.

´The idea was born out of a dream. I remember a group lesson in the white hall of the Theatre School. I was quite tired and the lesson was coming to an end. There were moments at that time when I felt very much alone, I did not know how to consult more experienced colleagues for their advice. And then I dreamed how the room is full of teachers. Before Christmas I went to Finland to meet colleagues. We were sitting together and I was over the moon that I had got lessons from them. Somehow our talk drifted to a point where I asked, ‘Is the birthday of F. M. Alexander celebrated anywhere in the world?’ The other said no. Everybody was actually surprised by the fact. I then prompted my Finnish colleagues to come to Estonia to celebrate F. M. Alexander’s birthday with free lessons. I had many students who could not afford to pay. And that was the beginning.’

On 20 January, 2002 five Finnish teachers came, inspired by Maret’s idea. They came with the morning ferry and left in the evening, having worked a full day and feeling really good about it. The same happened the next year.

‘Then I went to London for some further training and told Dorothea Magonet at the Royal Music Academy about the birthday phenomenon. I said how nice it was that Finnish colleagues came over to help me. Dorothea asked whether only Finnish colleagues could come, that perhaps others might like to join them. I wrote a short article about the birthday event for the STAT newsletter. And people started ringing from the UK, from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland. After that I have never had to ask anybody to come and help me.’

Dorothea Magonet was a physiotherapist when she was introduced to the AT thirty years ago. She trained as an AT teacher in 1980 and works full time in the Royal Academy and in private practice. ‘I met Maret Mursa when she came to the Royal Academy, London, to observe my work with the students there. She mentioned that she had arranged for teachersfrom Finland to visit her school to teach the students there, becauseas she was the only teacher, she needed some help and the studentswould benefit from experiencing different approaches. She had chosen theday of Alexander's birthday for such a visit. I had no idea whenAlexander’s birthday was before then. We discussed that it would be agood idea to publish this possibility of visiting Estonia in ourAlexander Newsletter in the UK, which also goes to teaching membersin Europe, and thatyear about ten Alexander Teachers visited andworked for free with the music and drama students and members ofthe public,’ remembers Magonet.

She says that she admired Maret’s imaginative way of developing the Alexander work and wanted to support her. ‘The birthday as such is of not much interest to me. But now as wehave had this experience of sharing work and teaching students andpeople in Estonia it has become an interesting date in our workingcalendar.I very much enjoyed working with the students, there seems to be ahunger and deep interest for this kind of work on you. I foundthat, unlike in England sometimes, the students were very receptiveof the ideas and the principles of the Alexander work.’

Maret confirms that other teachers have stressed more or less the same things. ‘A year ago the teachers said that first it had been a fantastic feeling to work together in the same room, and secondly that all the students were very keen to work. The teachers felt that their work was valued very highly. In all the five years I have started the birthday morning with an introductory lecture where anybody can come. It was a full house this time even though the weather was freezing. The lessons were attended by drama students, students of music and teachers who had done an AT course. There was great interest in the sessions. In Helsinki an AT lesson would cost 30-40 euros and our people just could not afford it.’

Maret Mursa says that the AT has helped her a lot, which is why she wants to share the experience with as many people as possible. She directs the energy that she has left after students

towards teachers. It was not about a choice of whether to promote herself to companies or go to teachers in schools. ‘From the very beginning it was clear to me that once a teacher gets an inkling about the AT s/he can help himself or herself and then children.’

Celia Roose: ‘It was greatly needed, particularly for the teachers of children and younger people.

I am the head of the department of folk music at the Viljandi Culture Academy of Tartu University and I invited Maret to teach a course to our undergraduate students. When I moved to Võru Music School I asked Maret to give a course for our teachers. That was my meeting with the AT. There is no doubt that musicians need the AT. It is, after all, about teaching the correct positioning of the body and the instrument. During the studies there may have been insufficient attention for the body position and as a result, tensions may have blocked part of the creative potential. Personally I worked on breathing and singing. Maret’s help brought out so many emotions at one time - crying and laughing and everything together. A truly powerful experience. I wish there were more teachers.’

Different teachers open the AT from different sides, depending on their background, e.g. yoga or perhaps sports. The Technique has undergone several developments, for example it can be linked to horseback riding or swimming. The goal of Steven Shaw is to make swimming very economical and natural. He discovered the AT 25 years ago in London where he is also based at present but he teaches swimming with the Alexander Technique throughout the UK, America, Canada, Holland, Israel and Japan. He has also done workshops in Estonia and given private lessons here.

‘Maret attended my workshop at an Alexander Congress in Oxford where she asked me if I would like to come to Estonia for F.M.Alexander’s birthday. It sounded like an interesting way to bring the Technique to anew environment. Such a birthday is an opportunity to show respect to a great man in a way he wouldhave appreciated. Both my individual Alexander and swimming pupils and those whoattended my workshops were extremely good to work with. They werevery open and positive about the work.’

According to Maret the teachers like to join in each other’s classes, many teachers based in the same country only meet each other the first time when they come to Estonia. It is a neutral spot for different schools of the AT who sometimes find themselves opposing each other. Estonia has brought them together.

Masoumeh Melrose is based in Ireland, in Dublin. She gives private lessons and also works as an osteopath. ‘I see a variety of people. People come for differentreasons. Mostly it is about back problems and pain caused by wrong posture. I also see children, their parents bring them because they get pain when they play an instrument or carry their heavy school bag. I decided to go to this event for different reasons:the main reason was to be able to offer some support to Maret, for the Alexander Technique work that she has been doing in Estonia. I was also interested in the whole idea of many teachers meeting together to give lessons on one day (for free), to people that we did not know and had not met before. This idea, and the way that Maret was brave enough to set this up, is both amazing and funny. It is a pioneering idea. I have participated in this event three times now - 2004, 2005and 2006. Each time the experience has been fresh and unique. Each year the event grows to be fuller than the previous year. Yet, so far ithas kept its substance very well intact and sincere. For me the birthday is a time to meet with colleagues, and to work withtotally new pupils in a unique setting. It is inspiring to be surrounded by
colleagues, and yet we are all focused on our own work with the pupil.’

Kärt Tomingas: ‘I went to Masoumeh’s lesson, she got very close to me. I told her about the jaw problem and I practised my voice, too. She opened my sound channels after just a few short questions. If the AT had been in the curriculum when I studied I would have had much fonder memories of those days. The AT people are people who have the power to love and empathy. If I had had such a teacher I would have had somebody to share my problems with.‘

Maret Mursa says that Ingo Normet should get the credit for putting the AT on the curriculum because he knew exactly what he was doing when he wanted to see the AT taught at the Theatre School. ‘And that created the preconditions for me to go and study. Ingo had been to London and discovered the AT as an important subject. Foundations funded part of my studies, I could never have been able to pay it myself. The training of teachers lasts for three years. When I graduated I immediately had a position available at the Theatre School,’ says Maret in response to the teachers’ question on how she has managed to get so many students.

In the next few years Estonia should get a second AT teacher – Karin Halling who is currently doing her traineeship at the AT school in Essex. Ken Thompson, the head of the school, has also given free lessons in Estonia on F. M. Alexander’s birthday. He has been a yoga teacher, studied the AT in London between 1976-79 and founded the Essex AT School in 1988.

‘I got the information about F.M. Alexander'sbirthday celebrations from Karin Halling, who at present is training here at the Essex Alexander School. I decided to join in the celebration towards the end of last year and travelled to Estonia with Karin, Steven Shaw and Colin Beattie. Maret has started something quite unique in celebrating Mr. Alexander birthday, so it means to me something special and needs to be supported. I found all the Estonia pupils extremely keen and receptive to each lesson, and very appreciative of the teachers. I was able to exchange work with other Alexander Teachers during my stay in Tallinn, which is always very interesting.’

After the last birthday Maret came up with another initiative – to support everybody who becomes the first teacher of a given country with the lessons. ‘I said that Estonia did not have to be the only place where we celebrated F. M. Alexander’s birthday. Somehow, everyone was a bit shocked and asked whether they could no longer come to Estonia. It seemed that people had grown to like it here very much. I suppose we shall carry on then. I hope that I will find somebody to help out with organizational work. The logistics take at least a month. And the teachers want to meet and talk, this time I had almost no time for that.’

Translated by Ülle Leis

Interviews:

1. When and how you got information about F. M. ´s Birthday in Estonia?
Maret attended my workshop at an Alexander Congress in Oxford
where she asked me if I would like to come to Estonia for F.M birthday
2. Why you decided to join?
It sounded like an interesting way to bring the Technique to anew environment.
3. What the birthday means for you?
An opportunity to show respect to a great man in a way he would
have appreciated.
4. How your students (clients) in Estonia accepted trainings of
technique?
Both my individual Alexander and swimming pupils and those who
attended my workshops were extremely good to work with. They were
very open and positive about the work.
5. Did you have possibilities to join the trainings of otherteachers? How it was?
No
6. What do you mean - need Estonians A. technique more than
other nations :-)?I think AT can be good for people of all nations.
7. How you find A.technique and where teach it at the moment?
I discovered AT when in London 25 years ago and am now based in
North London. I teach swimming with the Alexander Technique
throughout the UK, America, Canada, Holland, Israel and Japan. My
next trip to Tallinn will be in mid June 2006 when I will run a
couple of half day swimming workshops and offer private swimming
lessons. See for more information.
With very best regards
Aivi Parijogi
journalist
Steven Shaw

Dear Aivi,
I hope that you are well, and perhaps now the weather is getting warmer in
Estonia.I will try to answer your questions.You can contact me again if you need me
to explain what i have said.
1. I heard about this from Maret.I have known Maret since 1997.I met her in
Helsinki,when she was training to become an Alexander Technique teacher, i
was one of the teachers, on the course.
2. I decided to go to this event for different reasons:the main reason was to be able to offer some support to Maret, for the Alexander Technique work that she has been doing ,in Estonia.
other reasons...... I was interested in the whole idea of many teachers meeting together to give lessons on one day ( for free), to people that we did not know and had not met before.This idea, and the way that Maret was brave enough to set this up, is both amazing and funny.It is a pioneering idea.
I wanted to visit Tallinn.
I was curious about the event and the country/ Estonia.
3.I have participated in this event 3 times now.2004, 2005 and 2006.
The first time i was full of excitement, i felt i was bubbling over,with
every aspect of the whole experience, but especially, by seeing Tallinn, and what a beautiful city it is. The second time i was more familiar, and i had also been to Tallinn to teach in April 2004.
The third time i was so glad to see the familiar faces,and to work with new pupils and pupils that i had met before. Each time the experience has been fresh and unique.
Each year the event grows to be fuller than the previous year.Yet, so far it has kept its substance very well intact and sincere. For me the birthday is a time to meet with colleagues,and to work with totally new pupils in a unique setting.
4. I found the pupils that i gave lessons to in Estonia to be very receptive
and genuinely interested in the Alexander Technique.I have admired their
openness and ability to respond so well to a new teacher.
5. The main possibility about this event is that the space we use is quite
wonderful. We have access to large rooms, so many teachers can work at the
same time on individual pupils.It is inspiring to be surrounded by
colleagues,and yet we are all focused on our own work with the pupil.I like
that possibility.
6.I dont think Estonians need Alexander Technique more than other
nations.However, i think that the A.T. would be beneficial to most
people.Especially,those living in environments or with occupations of high
demand.Often people do not know how to use their body well.Stress and old
habits and patterns can be quite dominant in a persons carriage and
movement.One aspect of the A.T. teaching is to be conscious in activity.This
would help everybody in anything they do.
7. I work in Dublin, Ireland.I teach the A.T. on a one to one basis,
privately.It is fine, people are interested.I see a variety of people.No
particular occupation more than other.People come for differentreasons......
to prevent themselves getting back problems, to relieve pain,
i also see children, their parents bring them for different reasons,
commonly because they get pain when they play an instrument.or at school,
or carrying their heavy school bag.
Well that is all i can think of to say. I hope that it is helpful to you.with best regards
Masoumeh Melrose